Sen. Kathy Sheran and Rep. Terry Morrow say former Human Services Commissioner and now secretary of the Senate, Cal Ludeman, withheld critical information from the Legislature when he edited a report on sex offender treatment.

How much would Gov. Tim Pawlenty's proposal to double prison sentences for the state's most violent sex offenders cost? In the short term: basically nothing. But as the proposal kicks in, it would add millions of dollars annually to the budget for the Minnesota Department of Corrections.

As parents dropped their kids off on the first day of school Tuesday morning, state Rep. Joe Atkins was holding a press conference to announce legislation he said would make it tougher for sex offenders to loiter too close to ...